Painted Nails
by WritingRowlet
Summary: Lucy notices Juvia's fingers are basically destroyed because she chews her nails and skin. So, how else would you try to help then paint what little of the nails were actually left? *Slightly Luvia not gonna lie* *Fluffy*


**Warning I did not write Juvia as speaking in first person because I do not trust myself to write that and that is not how she talks in the English Dub of the anime so ye.**

"Hey, Juvia!" Lucy greeted, plopping down beside the lonely looking bluenette. The absentminded gaze that was locked on Juvia's face broke as she turned toward the girl, greeting her as her love rival which at that point was merely an affectionate nickname and they both knew it. Juvia went back to staring at a spot on the table she was sat at, watching possibly a speck of dust move with the draft in the room. "So what's got you so down today?" Lucy asked a little less cheerily, acknowledging the air of depression around the water mage.

"It seems my Gray has found another…" Juvia sniffled, dropping her chin onto the table. Lucy patted the girl's back, asking her what had happened. "My love was drinking with Cana and the two were clingy and drunk and I couldn't stand it! I left for a while and when I came back the both of them were gone…" Tears slipped down Juvia's cheeks. The sad scene pinged in Lucy's heart; she didn't want to see her friend so upset. She watched the door when it opened to reveal Gray and Natsu arguing and fighting and Gajeel kicking them across the room. Cana stood in the doorway giggling at the scene and Lucy looked over at Juvia who had her hand in her mouth.

"Are you chewing your nails?" Lucy took Juvia's wrist and yanked her poor nails free of her teeth.

"I can't help it!" Juvia wailed. "I'm so upset and nervous, I didn't know I was chewing on them…"

Lucy took the girl's hands and looked over her fingers. They were badly chewed on, though not only the nails were mangled. Her skin was chewed back to the ends of her nails and the nails were nothing more than nubs. The nails were uneven and brittle, only Juvia's index finger on her right hand and ring finger on her left hand were long enough to meet the ends of her fingers. All the others were half or less that long.

"Juvia! This is horrible!" Lucy cried, wrapping Juvia's hands in her own. "I thought you normally had such pretty manicures!"

"Usually, yes…but those are fake nails and they fell off. It's the only way I've kept from chewing on my hands…" Juvia explained, hanging her head. "I didn't think they were that bad right now…"

"You mean they've been worse?" Lucy asked. Juvia nodded, pulling her hands away and sitting on them. They sat in silence for a moment and Lucy looked around the guild knowing she needed to help Juvia in some way with her chewing problem and her Gray Fullbuster problem. She had never been a nail-biter herself, so Lucy didn't want to say 'well try this!' since she had no clue what it was like. Finally, though, she thought of one solution that could work. If Juvia used fake nails to keep from chewing her own, what if she painted her own?

"I've never painted my own nails…just the glue-ons," Juvia said when Lucy suggested it.

"Ooh, you should let me paint your nails, then!" Lucy squealed. She got up and ran over to grab her purse and the makeup supplies inside it. "I keep some nail polish in here just in case," Lucy explained, laying out several different colored paints. Juvia picked up a blue one. Lucy fussed, saying that she should choose something more adventurous. They ended up deciding the bright glitter-filled plum would be really pretty on Juvia.

Painting Juvia's nails proved to be more difficult than Lucy originally thought it would be. The shortness of her thumb nails and opposing ring and index fingers made it extremely difficult to tell if she had gotten all of the nail or if there was invisible length that Lucy was missing. She ended up having to pull out nail clippers to fix the skin around Juvia's left-hand middle finger. And we won't mention the pinky fingers. But, by the time she was done, Juvia's nails looked very much like tiny galaxies.

"It looks really good, Juve!" Lucy extolled, clapping her own hands together. Juvia was busy admiring her nails, gawking at them. She never thought her own nails could look so nice.

"Thank you, Lucy…" Juvia whispered. Lucy tried to look at her face, which was hidden behind her hair. "They look lovely, really."

"You're welcome," Lucy smiled softly. "Just don't chew on them so they can _stay_ pretty, OK?"

Juvia nodded, "I'll try not to…" She never wanted to mess up her nails in the first place, but it was easy when they were right there and so imperfect. Kind of like how she felt. Imperfect.

"Hey," Lucy called, pulling Juvia out of her thoughts, "Gray doesn't know what he's missing. If he doesn't want you, it's his loss. Not yours. One day somebody'll see how awesome you are and you'll like them too. Trust me."

Juvia wasn't sure if it was Lucy's words or her smile or the fact that Juvia felt she _could_ trust her, but she smiled. "Thank you, Lucy."

Another smile from the blonde. And a hug. Maybe Juvia wasn't as imperfect as she felt. Maybe she just needed someone to help her see just how perfect she was. She hugged Lucy back tightly, hoping she had figured out just who truly loved her.

 **I wrote this because I was feeling bad about my own dermatophagia so I put Juvia through it. Haha fun times amirite**

 **Review and Favorite if you enjoyed!**


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